Houston Texans Media Conference

Sunday, October 1, 2023

Houston, Texas, USA

Coach Mike Tomlin

Visitors Postgame Press Conference


MIKE TOMLIN: You know, not a good day at the office for us. Um, from an agenda standpoint. Um, we didn't do a lot of the things that we desired to do.

We didn't stop a lot of the things that we thought that they desired to do and thus the outcome. Um, I'll be specific. Um, you know, they ran the ball with consistency on us throughout. We deferred in an effort to get ourselves off to a fast start potentially, and I thought they did a nice job of establishing tempo and they ran the ball on us, man, we got to be better versus the run. We're not going to get what we desire to get defensively until we settle the run down. We didn't do that today.

They were in manageable position downs. You don't get them one dimensional, you don't get an opportunity for splash, the splash that we thrive on, and so you know, it's moot points, man, until we get better at stopping the run, making the power fall the correct direction. It's not dramatic, but it's just the direction where the power was falling. They stayed on schedule and we just got to be better in that regard.

On offense, man, it's like we talked about in the early portions of the week. That's a fundamentalist group. They do a really good job of minimizing splash and making you operate and making you be efficient and to be quite honest, we weren't efficient enough. We didn't minimize enough negativity. We didn't stay on schedule enough, so drives get stalled or you settle for field goals, and so it's the perfect storm for us offensively and defensively from that perspective.

They established the run and played behind it on their offense. They created inefficient things and we didn't work efficient on the other side of the ball and thus the outcome.

So we got a lot of work to do, obviously, but I congratulate the Houston Texans. They played a really good football game. They played to their personality. Um, they just did it better then we did today. Questions?

Q. My question is can you tell us about Kenny.

MIKE TOMLIN: Oh, I'm sorry. Injuries. Dan Morris got a knee, need to be evaluated. Pat Freiermuth's got a hamstring. Kenny same thing. He's got a knee that needs to be evaluated. And Leal. I don't know what the next status of Leal is. He's being evaluated as we speak.

And so, those are the four guys that went down in game that did not come back. I don't have a lot of information as I stand here right now specifically about what those injuries are.

Q. To what would you attribute to the offense not getting going?

MIKE TOMLIN: You know, I just thought we didn't operate efficiently enough. Penalties and so forth, negativity. Um, it took us too long to get the run game going. And that's kind of a synopsis of it.

Q: How were they able to do what they did against your defense? I don't think they had a sack today.

MIKE TOMLIN: They ran the football, and so, you know, they deserve a lot of credit for that. Man, they ran that football with some backups in there and stayed on schedule and minimized our opportunities.

Like we talked about during the top of the week, man, if they're on schedule, man, it's rhythm passing and so, when they play to their agenda, man, they really get an opportunity to neutralize the rush, and so, you know, that's a component of the question that you asked from that perspective, but we just got to do a better job against the run for sure.

Q. Mike, how do you evaluate Kenny's performance prior to the injury?

MIKE TOMLIN: You know, we all got to do better. I don't know that I look at it in that way as I sit here today. I'm looking at us in totality in terms of what we need to do to win. I would probably be better positioned to answer that later in the week, next time we get together.

Q. That fourth and one play where Kenny got hurt, you called time out before that. You guys were running the ball well. Is that what you talked about, that play specifically?

MIKE TOMLIN: I think they, you know, used the replay to establish or correct the spot, and so where the ball ended up and where we thought the ball ended up based on the official was on our sideline was two different things, that's why we called timeout.

Q. Your thoughts if you have to have to go forward with much? Do you feel good about much?

MIKE TOMLIN: Certainly.

Q. Mike, will you contemplate any changes or is it still too early?

MIKE TOMLIN: Change regarding? Changes regarding hell yeah we gotta make some changes, man. That was that was an ugly product we put out there today. So we're not going to do the same things and hope for a different outcome. What those changes are, man, we'll put together a plan in preparation this week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
137224-1-1041 2023-10-01 21:57:00 GMT

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